The Car Crash Revisited
by sophieparamore
Summary: Multi-Chapter Fic about The Car Crash without Derek or the Police or the Break-Up. Completed
1. Chapter 1

Lauren woke up, she had no idea where she was. The only thing that she knew, was the ringing in her head. 'Joey' she thought. And as if Joey had heard her, 'ssssh Lauren, it's okay.' They had been leaving, leaving Walford. What had happened? The next thing Lauren knew was the searing pain in her ribs. It felt like someone was using a knife to saw through her chest. She also felt the blood dripping down her head, all she wanted was to cry. But Joey was there, trying to get her out of the car, she was stuck! Lauren started to panic, she felt her breathing become quicker, 'Joey! Can you get me out please!' She nearly screamed. Finally, her seat came loose and she was able to get out of the car, except for the roaring pain in her ribs. But Joey was there to help her, he put his arm around her waist and held her hand, helping up and helping her to walk away from the wreck of what was Derek's car.

They were trying to find a way out from the shop in which they had a crashed. Lauren couldn't help but think about how she had almost lost him. Lost her Joey, the love of her life, the light to her world. Little did she know that Joey was thinking the same, how he nearly lost her. Lost his Lauren, the love of his life, the light to his world. He couldn't help but think of the pain she was going through, he could see her desperately try to hide her pain, but he could still hear the little whimpers of pain. Joey helped Lauren to the exit of the shop. He could smell the burning and the acidic oily smell. He knew the place was soon to go up in flames. They needed to get out and fast.

Minutes after they had gotten out, the shop went BOOM. Joey and Lauren were thrown to the ground. They were stunned but they still thought of each other. Each saying the others name over and over again in their head. They dragged their weakened hands along the ground to meet each other's. After they had caught the breath back and their hearts returned to normal, Joey sat up, pulling Lauren into his lap. Lauren couldn't hold then pain any longer, she cried, cried in Joey's lap whilst he phoned an ambulance.

The ambulance came and loaded Lauren into the back, Joey sat there on the seat beside her, and held her hand thinking about what they were going to tell their parents.


	2. Chapter 2

Joey was with her the whole time. He did not let go off her hand once unless the doctor told him too. The doctors had run tests on Lauren, they found she had three bruised ribs and a concussion.

When Max and Tanya got the call from the hospital telling them that Lauren was there, panic was rising between them, questions they didn't know the answer to. As soon as they got the call, the told Abi to take Oscar to Cora's and rushed out to the hospital. When they arrived, they didn't expect Joey to be standing there. 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?' Max screamed at Joey. Joey didn't know what to say, he couldn't say what happened, he could tell them about the car that came out of nowhere, the way he swerved the car out of the way and straight into the shop, how he had hurt his Lauren. Tanya finally stepped in and calmed Max down. The Doctor's had heard the commotion and came out to see what was happening. They were overthrown with questions from Max and Tanya, 'How's Lauren?', 'What happened?', 'Is she okay?' The Doctor told them to calm down and brought them into the relative's room. He explained everything that Joey had told him about the crash. He also explained that Lauren had three bruised ribs and had needed 4 stitches in her head. He told them that Lauren was going to be discharged and could go home but needed to be woken up every six hours because of the concussion.

A few hours later, Lauren had been discharged. Max and Tanya insisted that they bring Lauren home and she stay at home, but with lots of arguing and the help of Joey, Lauren persuaded her parents to let her stay at Joey's. (Her parents knew about the forbidden romance between them but accepted it). They arrived back in Walford and Joey helped Lauren out of the car and brought her into his house. He gently eased her onto the couch and gave her pain pills. He then went to the kitchen to bring some food but when he came back in, Lauren was already passed out on the couch. Joey lifted Lauren into his arms and carried her upstairs to his bedroom where he set her on the bed and joined her there.

Six hours later, Joey was faced with the impossible task of trying to get Lauren to wake up. 'Babe, come on, I need to see if you're okay.' Lauren finally woke but wasn't pleased. 'See Joey, I'm fine! Now let me go back to sleep!' She was definitely grumpy. Joey dreaded six hours time.


	3. Chapter 3

Lauren woke up in agony. The pain in ribs was too much and she started to cry. Joey heard her and woke up, gently pulled her into his lap and started to soothe her. Once she calmed, Joey went to get Lauren some pain killers. He decided to bring her breakfast in bed. He brought her some cereal, toast with butter and jam and added a bunch of flowers to make her feel happy.

Once breakfast was finished, Lauren knew she had to go see her parents, so Joey helped her out of bed and into the shower. He helped her get dressed and they both headed over to the Branning's house. As soon as they were through the door, Abi ran and hugged Lauren. 'Ow!' Lauren exclaimed. Abi soon let go and the whole family went to sit in the living room. With conversations shared and feelings explained, Lauren and Joey left went to the caf.

They arrived in the caf with a stern look from Lucy. Lauren knew their friendship had been rocky but with the arrival of Joey, things soon got worse. Lauren didn't regret anything with Joey, he was the love of her life and he was special, she hadn't felt this way before with any other boy she'd been with, not even Peter. She and Joey did argue but sure every couple did, they always made up and forgave each other.

Whilst Lauren was thinking all this, Joey was planning their next few dates, he'd take out for dinner, take her to the zoo and the cinema. The car crash had reminded Joey of how special Lauren really is and how he'd nearly lost her. He felt the lump in his throat even thinking about it.

What this car crash had each of them, was they were to cherish each other and not take each other for granted.


End file.
